A senior US state department official has said that the US has shown "arrogance and stupidity" in Iraq. Alberto Fernandez said in an interview with al-Jazeera TV that there was room for "strong criticism" of US policy.
But he added that the situation in Iraq was not just a failure of US policy, but a "disaster" for the region.
His remarks come on a day when US President George W Bush said US troops were changing tactics to deal with the insurgency.
Mr Bush, who made the comments in his weekly radio address, also held talks on the escalating violence in Iraq with senior military commanders.
I think there is great room for strong criticism, because without doubt, there was arrogance and stupidity by the United States in Iraq Alberto Fernandez
The talks came as 17 people were killed in a mortar attack on a market near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
And three US marines were killed in Anbar province, bringing the total number of US troops killed in Iraq in October to 78.
'Regional disaster'
Mr Fernandez, an Arabic speaker who is director of public diplomacy in the department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, told Qatar-based al-Jazeera that history would decide how well the US had done.
"However, I think there is great room for strong criticism, because without doubt, there was arrogance and stupidity by the United States in Iraq," he said.
He said that Washington was willing to talk to any group in Iraq, apart from al-Qaeda, to help end the violence.
"We are open to dialogue because we all know that, at the end of the day, the solution to the hell and the killings in Iraq is linked to an effective Iraqi national reconciliation," he said.
But he rejected demands set out by an unidentified man, who claimed to speak for Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath Party, who also appeared in the broadcast.
They included the annulment of all laws adopted since Saddam Hussein was ousted, recognising insurgent groups as sole representatives of the Iraqi people and a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops.
Mr Fernandez called the statement "farcical" and said the demands were "removed from reality", but he emphasised that the stakes were high in Iraq.
"We are witnessing failure in Iraq and that's not the failure of the United States alone, but it is a disaster for the region," he said.
